Mark DeRosa (left) and Pablo Sandoval took some grounders at third base. The San Francisco Giants held their second workout of the spring training season at Scottsdale Stadium in Arizona Wednesday February 16, 2011.

Mark DeRosa was an oracle last year. No shame in that, right? It's respectable work. Mothers and fathers of oracles should be proud.

As the Giants completed the long drive to a World Series title, DeRosa rode shotgun and dispensed advice, solicited or unsolicited. He was a shoulder to cry on and a sounding board, a motivator, a patter of backs and even a wannabe pitching coach.

When the postseason began, reporters from around the country flocked to DeRosa's locker for his take on the wacky personalities in the clubhouse. He is a good talker, funny, "and maybe the Ivy League thing plays into it," he said. "I've been fooling people with that for years."

Oracle is not the job that DeRosa signed on for, however. The Penn alum wants to be a baseball player again.

On March 31, manager Bruce Bochy will write eight names above Tim Lincecum's on the Opening Day lineup card, "and I want to prove I deserve one of those spots," DeRosa said. "My job is to make Boch have to put me in the lineup, make it hard to keep me out of it."

The wrist injury that wrecked his 2010 season and required two surgeries is healed. DeRosa, who turns 36 next week, swings freely in the cage and wants to put a thousand miles between himself and the training room.

What a boon for the Giants - found money - if DeRosa does force Bochy to find a spot for him every day. DeRosa was signed before the 2010 season to produce runs, but he had only 10 RBIs when his season ended May 8. One of those came on an Opening Day home run in Houston ("my one good swing of the year.")

Though he played in only 26 games, DeRosa will accept his World Series ring April 9 with no qualms. Many players who are hurt try to blend into the wallpaper, feeling they are not one of the guys. DeRosa went the other way.

"It was crazy," second baseman Freddy Sanchez said. "I've never seen any player who was hurt and not able to play have a bigger impact on a group of guys. He had the 'it' factor. He was the glue that kept our team together. When things weren't going well, everyone went to talk to Mark.

"He deserves a lot of credit. If we ever had a captain, he would have been the guy last year."

Teammates said that, like a good manager, DeRosa knew when to praise and cajole, when to speak softly and get forceful, as he did with pitcher Jonathan Sanchez.

The left-hander said he had many conversations with DeRosa, one of which included a tip that Sanchez was dropping his arm too far and getting underneath pitches. Sanchez was impressed how DeRosa made the young guys feel as though they belonged.

DeRosa's reward was being made to feel he belonged even if could not play. Still, DeRosa acknowledged he could not shake that "tinge" of wanting to contribute as an athlete and not a motivator.

"I still never hit a ball in the gap," he said, "I still never made a play. I'd never been that far in the postseason. It motivates me to get back because, since I was a kid, that's all I ever wanted to do, to play in a World Series, and the one time I get there I'm sitting on the bench."

"It was definitely tough mentally to watch."

DeRosa took grounders at third alongside Pablo Sandoval on Wednesday. He will confer with Bochy later this week about the team's plans. Bochy hinted to reporters that DeRosa will concentrate on left field but could play third, first and even some shortstop.

Even in saying he "absolutely" wants to be an everyday player, DeRosa said he has to be realistic and acknowledge that he is trying to bust into a lineup that largely remained intact after winning a championship.

He plans to remain positive about his chances, though, because playing oracle is not half the fun of playing ball.

Diverse asset

Mark DeRosa, whose first Giants season was ruined by injuries, brings a record of solid hitting and versatile fielding.